A YOUNG NATURALIST. 



69 



how astonished the French were, on their arrival here, to 

 find they could not procure any cut tobacco ; while on the 

 other hand the Indians crowded to see the foreigners in- 

 hale the smoke of the plant from instruments made of clay, 

 wood, or porcelain."* 



" I remember," cried Lucien, " that one day l'Encuerado 

 took a pipe belonging to an officer who was staying with 

 papa and began to smoke it. You should have seen what 

 horrible faces he made." 



"Well, what happened to him?" asked Sumichrast. 



" The pipe made him sick, and then papa, who knew noth- 

 ing about his smoking, gave him some medicine ; but l'En- 

 cuerado told me that t the medicine was not nearly so nasty 

 as the pipe." 



The culprit, who had just joined us, cast down his eyes 

 at this tale about him, and murmured in a sententious tone 

 of voice, " Pipes are an invention of the devil."f~ 



Followed by my companions, I again drew near to the hut, 

 and the master came out to bid us welcome. Our hostess 

 placed upon a mat an earthen dish containing a fowl cooked 

 with rice, and the Indian, his wife, and his sister-in-law, of- 

 fered to wait on us. Lucien invited the children to partake 

 of our repast ; but they refused to sit down beside us. To- 

 wards the conclusion of our dinner, one of them brought us 

 half a dozen bananas, which were most welcome ; while we 

 were drinking our coffee, the little troop made up a game 

 of hide-and-seek. To my great satisfaction, I saw that, in 

 spite of the long day's journey, Lucien joined in, and 



* The Indians that inhabit the vast plains to the north of Mexico all 

 smoke ; from this, doubtless, arises the usual supposition that all American 

 Indians smoke. — Ed. 



t In giving utterance to this anathema, TEncuerado was unknowingly 

 agreeing with James I., king of England, who published a work against 

 smokers. 



